Phones
by Sierra's Darkness
Summary: JPIII aftermath. Billy doesn't understand Alan's sudden aversion to cellphones.


**Notes:** This was written for the 2008 Yuletide Challenge on Livejournal. It's my first Jurassic Park III fanfic, though I've been sitting on the fandom for a long time. :X Reviews (or, better, critique!) are loved and cherished and rewarded with cookies.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Jurassic Park III or any of the related characters.

**Warnings: **Mentions of some violence, spoilers for the movie, and not a lot else. :)

--

**Phones**

--

One of the first changes that Billy noticed in Alan was the difficulty with which he answered his cellphone. It began with a visible cringe at the ringtone, progressed into Alan freezing mid-conversation, and ended with him crushing the phone beneath the tires of their old truck. He refused to carry a phone with him after that.

The distance in time between when they had last been there and the present wasn't enough. He wasn't sure that it ever would be. For that reason, he said nothing about it. It had something to do with the events on the island, but Alan hadn't told him what had happened after he was washed down the river. He had recurring nightmares of gnashing teeth and claws and the beating of wings--half-unconscious for a good part of his time there, he didn't know what Alan had gone through. Billy couldn't understand Alan's sudden aversion to cellphones of any kind, but it wasn't his place to ask.

"This'll do," Alan said, squinting up at the sun.

Billy was perched on the seat of the truck, his crutches propped against the open door. His injuries were still healing, the most severe of these a sprained ankle. Alan hardly let him out the door anymore without the crutches and considerably well-padded clothes.

"It's a bit far from the site," he said, his face apprehensive. "Isn't there somewhere closer?"

Alan dusted his hands off on his worn jeans and straightened. "The ground is firmer here."

Trying not to frown, Billy rested his forearms over the steering wheel. It was an argument he wouldn't win; there wasn't much he could do to prevent Alan from testing for new places to dig. At least not while he was practically immobilised and confined to the trailer for the better part of the day. Sometimes Alan pitied him enough to set up a seat under the trailer's awning for him; his hands itched to pick up a tool and join the students. Watching them made him feel useless and out of place in the Montana badlands--people didn't go there just to sit. They came to dig, and the professor's apprentice couldn't utilise himself doing what he did best. More than once, he found himself limping toward the tray of picks and brushes, but that disapproving look on Alan's face always made him stop short.

Alan resumed setting up various things to measure the pH of the soil, and Billy let his head thunk against the dashboard.

--

Billy's greatest tool, however, was his gift of persuasion, and that was how Alan found himself eating at the local diner more than three times a week. It was good for him, Billy teased him, socialising with people 'his age.'

Over a beer, Billy told him jokes. None of them were funny, but Alan laughed anyway. He was glad that Billy was still the same after their experience; for all the bubblewrap Alan had cocooned him in, he'd lost none of his vigour.

"The kids stare at me," Billy frowned, having sobered up by the time their meals were placed in front of them. He cut his steak with a little too much force, adding through a mouthful, "I look like a freeloader InGen paid you to keep quiet."

Alan rolled his eyes. "You're injured, Billy. Even college kids can understand that."

"I wish you'd let me help more," Billy said, and Alan quickly saw where the conversation was headed.

He took his hat off and set it on the table. "You can help me by focusing on getting better. You're the best assistant I have and you're no good to me if you can't do your job." His pointed eyebrow raise hushed the protest he could see Billy opening his mouth to voice. "Thanks, Billy."

--

From the little Alan told him about their rescue from Isla Sorna, Billy ascertained that it was Ellie, Alan's long-time friend, who had saved them. He hadn't asked how, but she was clearly important to Alan. When they talked about her, Alan smiled a little, wistfully. That was an expression Billy certainly hadn't seen from him before.

Alan was surprised when Billy suggested they invite Ellie and her husband over for dinner. But then that silly smile was there and Billy couldn't help a twinge of jealousy.

--

Ellie was a beautiful woman--tall and blonde--and she had a warm smile. Billy liked her right away. She was genuine and upfront, the type of woman Billy would have dated before his time on the island (before he knew what was really important to him).

Alan and Ellie talked like they'd known each other a lifetime. In a sense, Billy realised, they had: Ellie had known Alan before he'd stepped foot on Isla Nublar. She'd even been his girlfriend at some point. His eyes drifted to Mark; he obviously had to know. And he was still smiling.

"He bounces back quickly," Alan was saying and Billy realised they were talking about him. He smiled sheepishly. "It's hard to keep him in one place."

"Alan won't let me out of the trailer," Billy defended himself even as he laughed with them. He almost jolted out of his seat when Alan's knee touched his under the table. He forced his eyes to remain up and he listened intently to the conversation, not noticing until they got up to see Ellie and Mark out some two hours later that their bodies had been in contact all through dinner.

Mark offered to have a look at the truck. He said he could probably find them somewhere to trade it in and get a more updated model. Eager at the idea, Alan took Mark to the other side of the trailer to let him examine it, leaving Billy and Ellie, with Alan's hat in hand, to talk.

"I didn't get a chance to say thank you," Billy said.

Ellie looked at Billy curiously. "What for?"

"The only reason we got off the island was you."

Ellie smiled and offered Billy Alan's hat. "Take care of Alan, Billy. He might not say it, but he needs looking after."


End file.
